Smallest full moon of 2016 on April 22
230 Tonight for April 22, 2016 Courtesy U.S. Naval Observatory EarthSky Facebook friend Curtis Beaird in south Georgia captured the shot above. Tonight – April 22, 2016 – it’s the farthest full moon, and smallest full moon, of the year. We’ve heard it called the micro-moon or mini-moon . This full moon comes less than one day after reaching lunar apogee , the moon’s farthest point in its monthly orbit. It lies some 30 thousand miles (50 thousand km) farther from Earth than 2016’s closest full moon – a supermoon – due on November 14. Every year has a closest full moon, and a farthest full moon. The mini-moon often returns about one month and 18 days later with each passing year, meaning that, in 2017, the year’s smallest full moon will come on June 9. In 2018, the year’s smallest full moon will fall on July 27; and in 2019, the smallest full moon will occur on September 14. The micr
